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THE BATTLE OF 



GETTYSBURGH, 



AND 



THE PART TAKEN THEREIN 



VERMONT TROOPS 



BY GY G^/beNEDICT, 

LIEUT. AND A. D. C. 




BURLINGTON : 

FREE PRESS PRINT 

1867. 



The Paper, the substance of whicli is contained in tlie following pages, was pre- 
pared at the request of (Jllicers of the Vermont Historical Society, and was read at 
tlio special mooting of tlia*; Society, in Brandon, Vt., January 26th, 1864. The posi- 
tion of its author, on Gen. Stannard's staff, gave liim fair opportunities for observa- 
tion of the matters related. He was tlio first man of his Brigade on the field, having 
been sent in advance to announce to tlio Division Commander the approach of the 
Brigade, and reacliing Cemetery Hill before tlio close of the firing on Wednesday. His 
l)ost on Tliursday afternoon was by tlie side of his general, on the brow of Cemetery 
Mill, till it was excliangod for tlio extreme front on the left centre. The 
moonlit night of Thursday he spent in a search for a missing ammunition 
train, which took him over the whole ground occupied by our army. His duties 
called him to and fro upon various portions of the field during Thursday and Friday. 
He rode on Saturday over our lines from left to right, and over a portion of the ene- 
my's position; and on a subsequent visit to Gottysburgh in November, 1863, he was 
enabled to verify his impressions by further study of the ground, and conference 
witJi many brave men who stood on those bloody hillsides during the great fight. 
His account of the part taken by the 2d Vermont Brigade, is that of an actor in or 
eyewitness of almost everything related ; and of one who has been desirous to know 
and to set down only the simple truth. 

So much may properly be said to the circle of friends for whose reading the paper 
is printed in this form. The writer is only sorry that the pressing de- 
mands on his time have not allowed him to give it studied revision in the light of all 
the information gained since tlio close of tho war. Such revision, however, would 
not particularly affect the narration of the part taken by the Vermont troops, but 
only some of tho surroundings with which it is grouped, and which are given only to 
show its importance and relation to the whole. The importance of that part is more 
and more fully recognized in the later histories of the battles, and there need be lit- 
tle fear that posterity will not fully perceive it. 

For tho illustrations I am indebted to Col. Jno. B. Bachelder, of New York, for 
whose forthcoming History of the Battle, which will doubtless be the fullest and 
best one for all time, they were engraved, and who has kindly, and as a special favor, 
permitted this use of them . 

BuKLiNCiTo.v, Vt., December, 1866. G. G. B. 



f o 



VERMONT AT GETTYSBURGH. 



The battle of Gettysburgh was a notable battle. In respect 
to numbers engaged, loss of life involved, and importance of re- 
sults, it ranks, by universal consent, among the great battles of the 
world. It was the culmination of the rebellion, the turning 
point of the great war for the Union ; and it was the only great 
battle of the war fought on the soil of a Northern State. 
Its claim on the interest of every American, from such char- 
acteristics, is enhanced for Vermonters by the fact that at three 
important points on the field Vermont troops held the front, and at 
the two chief crises of the battle were largely instrumental, under 
God, in changing a doubtful fight into victory. 

It is no part of the purpose of this paper to sketch in any de- 
tail the movements preceding the battle. It will be enough if we 
remember that Gen. Lee took across the Potomac, on his northern 
march, the best rebel army at the height of its strength, numbering 
100,000 men of all arms ; that the Army of the Potomac, 85,000 
to 90,000 strong, had followed, covering Washington, till Baltimore 
was also threatened, and then moving so as to intercept him, should 
he march upon either city ; and that the rebel commander, having 
collected his army in the Cumberland Valley, in Pennsylvania, 
turned southward on the 1st of July, 1863, through the mountains, 
to anticipate the Army of the Potomac in securing the point — the 
village of Gettysburgh, Pa. — at which the main roads cross and 
diverge to Baltimore, Frederick City, Harrisburgh and Washing- 
ton. I pass over all details of the hard and toilsome march, ac- 
complished at the rate of nearly 20 miles a day, for ten consecutive 
days, by which our army moved from the Rappahanock to the 



Pennsylvania border. I must omit, too, any detailed description 
of the battle of Wednesday, July 1st, begun in the morning by 
Gen. Buford with the Cavalry, two miles north of Gettysburgh, 
opened in earnest by the brave and capable Gen. Reynolds, (who 
was one of its first victims,) with the 1st Army Corps ; sustained 
through nearly two hours of stubborn and at times aggressive fight- 
ing by Gen. Doubleday, who succeeded to the command of the 1st 
Corps ; continued under General Howard with the 10th and 
11th Army Corps, till, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, outnumbered 
and outflanked, our forces abandoned the hard and hopeless fight 
for the ridge northwest of Gettysburgh, and retreated to Cemetery 
Hill, on the southern outskirts of the village. That first day's 
fight has been rightly called the Ligny of the great battle. It 
was pronounced by the intelligent correspondent of the London 
Times with the rebel army, " the best contested field that the Ar- 
my of the Potomac had yet known." Its cost to us was ten thou- 
sand men killed, wounded and prisoners — nearly one-eighth of the 
effective force of the Army of the Potomac. Its results were the 
holding in check the rebel army during eight hours of incessant 
fighting ; the possession of the important position of Cemetery 
Hill on Wednesday night, and the lull of Thursday forenoon, 
which gave rest and respite to the shattered remnants of the 1st 
and 11th Army Corps, now reduced to half their former strength, 
and enabled the remainder of Gen. Meade's army, and its com- 
mander, to join them before the fighting was renewed. By dark of 
Wednesday, the 3d Corps, Gen Sickles, and the 12th Corps, Gen. 
Slocum, had arrived upon the field; at midnight Gen. Meade 
reached the ground, and by 7 o'clock the next morning the 2d and 
5th Corps had arrived, and with the rest were posted in the cele- 
brated " horseshoe " line of battle, of which Cemetery Hill was 
the centre and key. 

Thursday, July 2d — a pleasant summer day — passed on with- 
out strife till 3 o'clock, P. M., when its quiet was broken by a 
movement on the part of our army. At the hour named, the 3d 
Corps, Gen. Sickles, swung out from its position on the left of Cem- 
etery Hill and advanced to occupy a low rounded ridge half a mile 



to the west. It was an unfortunate movement, Longstreet, as 
Gen. Lee states iu liis official report, had been ordered to occupy 
the same ridge, and had already deployed his forces, of Hood's and 
McLaws' divisions, for the purpose. His line extended beyond the 
left flank of the 3d Corps, and he met its advance with a sweeping 
artillery fire on front and flank, while Hood and McLaws pressed for- 
ward to seize the crest. The 3d Corps stood up well to its work. 
Gen. Sickles fell with a shattered leg, but his command held its 
own and even drove back the enemy for a time. Gen, 
Hood lost an arm and was taken from the fleld. His successor. 
Gen. liobertson, was also wounded, and it was not till Longstreet 
headed a charge in person that the line of the 3d Corps became 
broken. It fell back, leaving the ground strewn with its dead. 
Longstreet now followed up his advantage sharply, and made a de- 
termined effort at once to turn Gen. Meade's left and break through 
on the left centre. The attack on the extreme left was repulsed 
with hard and bloody fighting by the 5th Corps, Gen. Sykes, which 
as the assault on the 3d Corps opened had just formed its line in 
the rear and to the left of the 3d Corps. The broken lines of the 
3d were enabled to form afresh in the rear of the 5th, while the 
latter stubbornly held its ground, with the support of a portion of 
the 6th Corps, now just arrived upon the field. The left of the 5th 
Corps extended to Little Round Top Hill, and desperate fighting 
took place for the possession of that hill. The enemy were re- 
pulsed at its foot by a brigade of the 5th Corps, consisting of the 
16th Michigan, 44th New York, 8od Pennsylvania, and 20th 
Maine, which not only maintained its position, with a loss 
of the brigade commander. Col. Vincent, and fifty per cent, of its 
numbers killed and wounded, but captured some 300 prisoners. 
The hill was finally occupied by the 20th Maine, Col. Chamberlain, 
and a battery of 30 lb. Parrot guns was placed on its summit, 
which made a fortress of it and assured the safety of Gen, Meade's 
extreme left. 

The attempt on the left centre came nearer to succeeding when 
success for it would have been bitter disaster for our army. The 
rout of the 3d Corps left open large intervals in our lines to the 



6 

left of Cemetery Hill. A portion of the troops brought down by 
Gen. Hancock, commanding that wing, to fill the largest gap, had 
broken for the rear under the pressure of Longstreet's advancing 
columns. The federal battei-ies to the south of the hill were left 
without support. One of them had actually fallen into the hands 
of the enemy, when the Vermont 2d Brigade, of the 3d (Double- 
day's) Division of the ]st Corps, then lying behind Cemetery Hill, 
was put into the gap and re-established the line. 

This service was important enough to be described a little more 
in detail. 

To go back a little, — the 2d Vermont Brigade, consisting of 
the 12th Kegiment, Col. A. P. Blunt, 13th, Col. F. V. Randall, 
14th, Col. W. T. Nichols, 15th, Col. Redfield Proctor, and l(3th, 
Col.W. G. Veazey, Vermont Regiments, under command of Briga- 
dier General George J. Stannard, had been assigned to 
the 3d division of the 1st Corps, when the army passed the line of 
the Occoquan ; but leaving that line a day behind the Corps, it 
had not been able, though marching hard and gaining gradually on 
the Corps, to make an actual junction vfith. it before the battle. 
The 12th and 15th Regiments were detached at Emmetsburgh, by 
order of Major Gen. Reynolds, to guard the Corps trains. On the 
afternoon of Wednesday, July 1st, in compliance with an 
order of Gen. Sickles, the 15th Regiment rejoined the 
brigade on Cemetery Hill, and remained there through 
the night, and until noon of the 2d, when it was sent back by Gen. 
Doubleday to guard the ammunition train, then parked at Rock 
Creek Church, about two and a half miles from the field. The 
12th and 15th Regiments were sent back to Westminister from 
there ; and thus, while doing important duty and going where they 
were ordered, had no opportunity to share in the glory and dangers 
of the actual conflict. 

The Brigade, thus for the time being reduced to three Regi- 
ments, did its utmost, on Wednesday, hurried forward by the 
sound of cannon and by couriers from Gen. Doubleday, to reach 
the field in time to take part in the first day's fight. It succeeded 
only iu reaching the ground as the last guns were fired from Ceme- 



tery Hill. It marched in on the left, over ground which was occu- 
pied by the enemy nest morning, and after some marching and 
counter-marching, under contradictory orders from different corps 
commanders, three of whom assumed immediate conmiand of the 
Brigade, was allowed to halt and drop to rest on the left of Ceme- 
tery Hill. G-en. Stannard was appointed general field officer of 
the day, or of the night rather, for that portion of the field, and a 
picket detail of 200 men of the 16th Regiment was posted in front, 
relieving cavalry who had been doing that service. Thursday 
morning the Brigade was moved to the rear of Cemetery Hill, and 
five companies of the 13th, under command of Lieut. Col. Munson, 
were detached as a support to one of the batteries on the Hill. Co. 
B, of the 16th, was also detached to strengthen the .skirmish line on 
the left front of Cemetery Hill, and did not rejoin the regiment till 
the close of the battle. While stationing these skirmishers, Capt.A.Gr, 
Foster, Acting Inspector general on Gen. Stannard's staff, was shot 
through both legs, the first officer of the Brigade that was hurt by 
a rebel bullet. The shells burst thickly over the Brigade during 
the severe shelling of Cemetery Hill, which accompanied the as- 
sault on our left on Thursday afternoon, and a few men were wound- 
ed by the pieces. Gen. Stannard was placed for a while in charge 
of the position occupied ]>y the batteries on the top of the hill, and 
took his post where the Tancytown road ci'osses the brow of the 
Hill, — a convenient spot for observation of the enemy, but suffi- 
ciently dangerous from the attention paid to it by both the rebel 
artillery and sharpshooters. The regiments of his command, how- 
ever, lay below the crest, and had nothing to do till late in the af- 
ternoon, when orders came which hurried them to the left and front, 
into the fight of which they had thus far heard nmch but seen little. 
They were sent by Gen. Doubleday to the rescue and support of the 
batteries on the left centre, which the enemy, following up the retreat 
of the 3d Corps, were now assaulting with infantry. The 14th 
Regiment, Col. Nichols, led the way, and forming in line of battle, 
moved forward under a shai-p fire to the rear of a battery from 
which the supporting infantry had just retired in confusion. The 
enemy fell back as they advanced, and the firing soon ceased at that 



8 

point. The 16th Regiment, Col. Veazey, which followed the 14th, 
also found in front of it a battery without support, and supported 
it till dark — losing a few men by cannon shots. The right wing of 
the 13th — the left wing of the regiment, it will be remembered, 
was supporting a battery on Cemetery Hill, and had not yet come 
up — was brought forward in the rear of the position of a battery 
which had just fallen into the hands of the enemy. The gunners 
had fled from their guns or fallen under them. The rebels had laid 
hold of the pieces. In another minute they would have been turned 
upon us. At this moment Col. Randall, whose horse had just been 
shot under him, and who was marching on foot at the head of his 
regiment, was addressed by Gen. Hancock, who had been endeavor- 
ing to rally the panic-struck supports of the battery, with the ques- 
tion, if he could retake that battery ? " We can ! forward, boys !" 
was the reply ; and in they went. The battery was saved, and the 
guns were passed to the rear; but the 13th did not stop there. 
Pushing on with his men Col. Randall advanced to the Emmets- 
burgh road, half a mile to the front, and captured there two 12 lb. 
brass guns, brought down by the enemy while following up the 3d 
Corps. These were the only guns taken by our forces from the 
hands of the enemy during the battle, though another piece, aban- 
doned by the rebels in their retreat, fell into our hands subsequent- 
ly. A company of about forty rebels, with their Captain, were ta- 
ken prisoners in and about Rogers' house, on the Emmetsburgh 
road, by Co. A of the 13th at this time. Col. Randall remained 
with his regiment in this advanced position till dark, when he was 
ordered back by Gen. Stannard to the main line. At the close of 
the day the Brigade thus occupied the front line on the left centre, 
and held it thenceforward to the end of the battle. 

While these events were in progress, on the left wing, General 
Meade's centre and right had been subjected to a shelling, which 
was only eclipsed by that on the left centre the day following. At 
five o'clock the enemy, probably surmising (which was the fact) that 
our right had been weakened to reinforce the left, made a deter- 
mined attack on our extreme right. The ground here is high and 
broken, rising into a rocky eminence, known as Culp's Hill, with 



two summits, whose steepest inclines faced the enemy to the north- 
east, separated by a ravine strewn with large granite blocks. Hill 
and valley were wooded with a fine growth of oak. The whole po- 
sition here had been made very strong by substantial breastworks 
of felled trees and piled stones. Culp's Hill was held by Gen. 
Wadsworth, with the remnant of his division of the 1st Corps, and 
by Gen. Geary's division of the 12th, until the latter part of the 
afternoon, when Geaivy \yas ordered with tv,'o brigades of his divi- 
sion across to the tighrt of the field to reinforce Sickles. Gen. 
Greene's brigade of Geary's division rem; lined and manned the 
breastworks through the ravine. About 7 o' jlouk the famous Stone- 
wall Brigade, of Early's Division, of Ewell's Corps, formed colnmn 
in mass, and marched boldly up the steepest part of Culp's Hill, 
against what they supposed to be our extreme right. They met 
the 7th "Wisconsin and 95th New York Volunteers, who received 
them with a fire of musketry which piled the ground in front of 
the entrenchments with rebel dead. Foiled in his attack in col- 
umn, the enemy deployed to his left in line and furiously attacked 
Gen, Greene's Brigade. They met again a welcome of rolling vol- 
leys, and, foiled at every point, fell back to the foot of the hill, 
and, covered by the trees and rocks, kept up, till 9 o'clock, a close 
but comparatively ineifective fire on our whole position. 

The assault on the right was a terribly expensive operation for 
the enemy, and fruitless with one important exception. At the 
point where the removal of Geary's troops left the breastworks un- 
defended the rebels gained an entrance. Fortunately, the dark- 
ness made it impossible to distinguish friend from foe, and prevented 
them from taking advantage of their success that night ; and in the 
morning they found a different situation of aff'airs. 

The night passed quietly on our lines, and our Generals doubt- 
less took courage as they looked the situation over, "We still held 
our own. We had sufiered terribly on the left, but had balanced 
the account by the slaughter of rebels on tlio right, and our 
army was now all upon the (jround. 

The 2d "V^ermont Brigade slept upon its arms, with the excep- 
tion of the 16th Regiment, which, under direction of Col. "Veazey, 
who was general field officer of the day, was posted on the picket 
line, — three companies deployed on the line, and the remainder of 
the regiment in reserve. During the night word was brought 



10 

by a prisoner to Col. Nichols that the rebel Gen. Barksdale lay 
mortally wounded on the field in front of his line. Col. Nichols at 
once sent out a detail of eight men under Sergeant Vaughan, (a 
brave soldier who fell next day,) who brought him in on a stretcher 
and took him to a small temporary hospital in the rear. His last 
message, " Tell my wife I fought like a man, and will die like one," 
was delivered to Sergeant Vaughan, and his hat and gloves, which 
he gave to one of the men who brought him in, are now in Colonel 
Nichols' possession. His body, with a ball hole through the breast, and 
legs bandaged and bloody from gun shots through both of them, lay 
in the rear of the position of the Vermont Brigade during the 
forenoon, and was then temporarily interred upon the spot. 

Friday, the last great day of the battle, opened with a sim- 
ultaneous cannonade at daylight on right and left, — on the left 
from Long-street's batteries along the low ridge he gained the after- 
noon before. This was to attract attention to that part of the field, 
while Ewell should make good his foot-hold on the right. It re- 
ceived but small response from our batteries, and died away in an 
hour or so. On the right our own guns opened the day. Several 
batteries had been collected there to shell the enemy out of the 
woods near the Baltimore road, where he had gained entrance the 
evening before, but, owing to the nature of the ground, which pre- 
vented a very effective artillery fire, the cannonade here too mainly 
ceased, and a terrific infantry fight succeeded. Gen. Geary had re- 
turned during the night, charged with the duty of re-occupying the 
breastworks at the head of the ravine. He found himself at first 
the attacked rather than the attacking party. Early, supported by 
Rhode's Division, pressed forward to secui*e the advantage 
he had partially gained the night before. It is said he 
had sworn he would break through on our right if it cost him his 
last man. If so, he was forsworn. For six hours — from 5 till 11 
o'clock — the musketry rolled on those hillsides in one incessant 
crash. For six hours, from other portions of our lines, we watched 
the white smoke-clouds curling up through the tree-tops, and 
wondered what the issue would be. At 11 Geary had driven the 
(tnemy back over the breastworks into the valley below. Gen. 
Greene, after repulsing another desperate assault on his line, made 
a sally and drove the rebels from his front, capturing three colors 
and wmo prisoners. Earlv retired terribly broken, and the battle 



11 

wan over i'or tjcjotl on the riu-Iit. The rebel dead at its cloae covered 
the ground from the front of our breastworks to the foot of the ra- 
vine. Our own loss on the right was quite small. 

To return to the left centre : The 2d Vermont Brigade took 
it;^ share of the opening cannonade in the morning and lost a 
few men by it. The 14th Regiment, in particular, had several 
non-commissioned officers and men killed at the same instant, by 
the explosion of a caisson of the battery close to which they were 
lying. Just after the enemy's batteries opened in the morning, 
Col, Nichols received permission to move his regiment forward about 
ten rods to a position where some scattered trees and bushes af- 
forded a partial shelter for his inen. The 14th took up the position 
during the cannonade, and remained substantially in that position 
thenceforward through the battle. The 13th Regiment lay to the 
right and a little to the rear of the 14th. On the right and a few 
rods to the rear of the 13th, extended the lines of the 2d Corps. 
About half of the 16th Regiment was upon the skirmish line in 
front, disposed for the most part in picket posts, rather than strictly 
as skirmishers, and the other half of the regiment was held in re- 
serve in their rear. 

The troops of Gen. Doubleday's Division were disposed in 
three parallel lines of battle. There were two reasons for this show 
of strength. In the first place the comparatively level and open 
nature of the ground at that point invited assault. In the second 
place our Division and Corps Generals doubtless distrusted the abil- 
ity of the Vermont nine-months troops to withstand a charge. It 
was owned that they did well the night before, when their prompt 
and eager presence apparently saved the day iu that part of the 
field ; but it was known — and it was about all that icas known about 
them in the Army of the Potomac — that they were 7iine-mo7iths 
men, their term of service just expiring, and that they had had no 
previous experience under fire. They were therefore expected to 
break at the first earnest onset of the enemy, and a double line of 
})attle was placed behind them, — (piite a needless ])recaution, as it 
proved. 

With the exception of some scattered firing on the skirmish line, 
no fighting took place on the left during ttie forenoon of Friday. 
The only further preparation to resist an attack, that under the cir- 
cumstances could be made in that portion of the field, was attended 



12 

to. It was to collect the niila lyiug where the dividing lines of the 
fields had run, and to pile them into breastworks. There were not 
enough of them to make a breastwork proper, anywhere ; but they 
sufficed for a low protection of from two to three feet in height, 
which would shelter men lying flat behind them, and we found that 
evei-y such help was needed before the day was done. 

For two hours succeeding the close of the musketry fight on 
the right, almost absolute quiet prevailed along the lines. Occa- 
sionally only, a distant cannon shot boomed from the northeast, 
where Clregg with the cavalry was harassing the enemy's left and 
rear. The silence else was oppressive. The batteries frowned like 
grim bull-dogs from the opposing ridges, but not a shot was fired. 
The great feature of the day — and a grander one has seldom been 
witnessed in the history of human warfare — was in preparation, — 
the charge of an army; for the body of infantry which Longstreet 
had been marshaling during the forenoon for the great assault on 
our left centre, was an army in itself. That charge has commonly 
been known as the charge of PickeWs Division, — a most inade- 
quate title. The troops composing it were not one but three divi- 
sions (lacking one or two brigades) of the rebel army. They were 
Pickett's Division of Longstreet's Corps ; Heth's Division of Hill's 
Corps, commanded by Pettigrew, Heth having been wounded the 
day before ; and two-thirds of Pender's Division of the same Corps, 
commanded by Trimble, Pender being also wounded. Pickett, as 
stated by the correspondent of the London Times, by the Richmond 
Press, and by prisoners taken, took not less than 4,300 men of his 
division into that charge. Pettigrew's was a strong division, made 
stronger by the addition of Wilcox's Brigade of Anderson's Divi- 
sion, and numbered, on the same authority, 10,000 men. The two 
brigades of Pender's Division probably numbered not less than 2,- 
500 men. The English officer who wrote the account of the battle 
in Blackwood's Magazine, says Longstreet told him afterwards that 
the great mistake on their side was in not making the attack on 
Friday afternoon with 30,000 men instead of 15,000. They made 
it, as the figures given above show, with about 17,000. 

The grand assault was heralded by a cannonade of eoually 
tremendous proportions. The London Times' correspondent states 
that 140 guns were in position opposite our left centre, without 
counting Ewell's batteries on the right, which, he adds, " made a 



concert ol' about 200 guns." There was doubtless conceutrated ou 
our left centre the fire of from 140 to 150 pieces — a fire with hardly 
a parallel in field operations. The famous cannonade with which 
Napoleon preceded the decisive charge at Wagram was of but 100 
guns, and that of Ney at Borodino of but 80. 

At ten minutes past one o'clock the signal gun was fired ; the 
rebel pieces were run to the top of the ridges which had con- 
cealed their movements from us ; and in an instant the air seemed 
literally 7?^Ze^ with flying missiles. It was a converging fire which 
came upon our lines at every angle, from direct point-blank at a 
range at which grape was served with efi'ect, to an enfilading fire, 
from a battery of Whitworth guns far to the right, which sent their 
six-sided bolts screaming by, parallel to our lines, from a distance 
of over two miles. Shells whizzed and popped and fluttered on 
every side ; spherical case shot exploded over our heads, and rained 
iron bullets upon us ; solid shot tore the ground around us, and 
grape hurtled in an iron storm against the low breastworks of rails. 
About ninety guns replied from our side. It is impossible to 
describe such a cannonade. It may assist the imagination, how- 
ever, to recollect that a field piece, actively served, is discharged 
with ease twice in a minute. The 2-10 guns in action probably 
gave over 350 discharges a minute, and, adding the explosions of 
the shells, it is not extravaga)it to estimate that in many a minute 
of those two hours the explosions amounted to 600 ; and this with- 
out count of the musketry. The din of the cannonade was com- 
pared, by the English writer I have quoted, to "the thundering roar 
of all the accumulated battles ever fought upon earth rolled into 
one volume."' The sound was distinctly heard at Greensboro, Green 
County, Penn., 148 miles in a direct line from Gettysburgh. 

This cannonade was in due accord w^ith the precepts of modern 
military science. The article on artillery in the New American 
Encyclopedia closes as follows : 

"The grandest results are obtained by the reserve artillery, in 
great and decisive battles. Held back out of sight the greater part 
of the day, it is brought forward in mass upon the decisive point, 
when the time for the final effort has come. Formed in a crescent a 
mile or more in extent it concentrates its destructive fire upon a 
comparatively small point. Unless an equal number of guns is 
there to meet it, half an hour's rapid firing settles the matter ; the 
enemy begins to wither under the hailstorm of howling shot ; the in 



14 

tact reaerves of infantry advance,— a laat sliarp struggle, and the 
victory is won. Thus did Napoleon prepare McDonald's advance at 
Wagram, and resistance was broken before the three divisions ad- 
vancing in column had fired a shot or crossed bayonet with the en- 
emy." 

Gen. Lee followed closely the general plan thus laid down, but 
there were some variations in details. Instead of half an hour of 
rapid firing, he gave two hours. There was another important va- 
riation, — the troops sustaining " the hailstorm of howling shot " 
did not "wither" according to the programme. Creeping close un- 
der the low protection of rails they had piled in the forenoon, and 
hugeiufr the ground, heads to the front and faces to the earth, our 
men remained immovable in their lines. The general, staff and 
field ofiicers ftlone, as their duties required, stood erect or moved 
from their places; all else needed little caution to keep down — even 
the wounded, for the most part, remained and bled quietly in their 
places. Col. Yeazey, of the 16th Vermont Regiment, in a recent 
letter to the writer, recalls a most remarkable effect of the cannon- 
ade on his men, who, it may be premised, had been on picket the 
night before, and, in common with the rest of the Vermont Brigade, 
(the 14th Regiment excepted) had been almost without food for twen- 
ty four hours. He says : " The effect of this cannonade on my men 
was the most astonishing thing I ever witnessed in any battle. 
Many of them, I think a majority, /eZZ asleep, and it was with the 
greatest effort only that I could keep awake myself, notwithstand- 
ing the cries of my wounded men, and my anxiety in reference to 
the more fearful scenes which I knew would speedily follow." The 
portion of his regiment of which he speaks was lying at this time in 
front of and almost under the muzzles of our own batteries, which 
fired right over them. Of course the rest obtained under such circum- 

o 

stances could have been nothing more than a stunned and weary 
drowse. The effect of this awful cannonade was especially notice- 
able on the batteries which occupied the crest on our side, and 
which were for the most part without any protection. They stood 
stoutly to their work but suffered greatly in both men and horses. 
Four caissons of Thomas' battery in position to the right and rear of 
the Vt. 2d brigade, were blown up at once by the enemy's projec- 
tiles. There was a scene of great confusion around it for a moment 
as the thick cloud of smoke, through which shot fragments of ex- 



15 

ploding shells, rolled up, and mutilated horses were seen dashing 
wildly to the rear ; but another battery wheeled promptly into its 
place, and before the rebel cheers which greeted the sight from the 
opposite ridge had died away, our fire opened with fresh vigor from 
the spot, Cushing's battery, further to tlie right, lost 63 of the ^4 
horses attached to it. 

The cannonade ceased on the rebel side shortly after 3 o'clock, 
and the grand charge followed. The assaulting forces were 
formed in two lines, with a front of about 1,000 yards, with sup- 
ports in the rear, extending beyond the flanks of the front lines. 
The ground selected for this movement was the only portion of the 
whole field over which so many men could have been rushed in line. 
It was a broad stretch of open meadow ground, extending from the 
left of Cemetery Hill to the southwest, perhaps a mile and a half in 
length and varying from half a mile to a mile in width between the 
confronting ridges. It sloped gently for most of the distance, from 
the summit occupied by our batteries, for half the way across, and 
then rose with like gentle incline to the enemy's position. 

The advance of the enemy was deliberate and stead}-. Pre- 
ceded by their skirmishers the long gnxy lines came on at common 
time, till they reached the lowest ground half way across the open 
interval, when the Vermont regiments, which, it will be remem- 
bered, occupied a position advanced from the general front of the 
army, were ordered up in line by Gen. Stannard. The enemy's 
right was now aiming apparently directly upo)i the 14th Regiment; 
and the order was sent to Col. Nichols, by Gen. Stannard, to hold 
his fire till the enemy was close upon him, then to give him a vol- 
ley, and after that the bayonet, A sudden and unexpected move- 
ment of the enemy rendei-ed the execution of this order impractica- 
ble. At the instant that our troops rose the rebel force in front 
suddenly changed direction by its left flank, and marched to the 
north across our fi'ont for some sixty rods, when, again fronting, it 
came in upon the line of the 2d Corps, to our right, held by Webb's, 
Harrow's, Hall's and Carroll's Brigades, and Rorty's, Cushing's, 
Arnold's and Woodruff's Batteries. The exact occasion of this 
singular and dangerous side-movement on the part of the enemy was 
not apparent at the time. It appeared, from the position occupied 
by the Vermont 2d Brigade, to be participated in by the whole at- 
tacking force, and to have been caused by the sudden appearance of 



16 

a. body of troops in firm line, much nearer to them than they ex- 
pected, on ground from which they supposed all opposing forces had 
been swept away by their batteries. The fact was, however, that 
the left of the rebel line came in direct ; but taking an oblique di- 
rection, their right became separated from it, and was obliged to 
march to the left to close the interval. It was a terribly costly 
movement for the enemy. The 14th Regiment, upon its commence- 
ment, at once opened fire by battalion, and continued it by file, at 
about sixty rods distance, with very great effect. The 13th joined 
its fire with the 14th, and a lino of dead rebels at the close showed 
distinctly where they marched across the front of the Vermonters. 
As the rebel lines fronted and advanced after this side move- 
ment, they swung partly to the rear on their right, and becom- 
ing massed, presented from some points of view the appearance 
of a column massed by regiments ; and the force is so described in 
some of the regimental and brigade reports. With a wild yell 
which rose above the roar of cannon and musketry, the rebels now 
came in on the charge. Our batteries, firing grape and canister, 
opened cruel gaps in their lines from front to rear. The 2d Corps 
met them in front with a destructive musketry fire, but they still 
swept on. They reached, pressed back, actually broke through our 
lines. The rebel Gen. Armistead had his hand on one of our guns 
when he was shot down. The general advance of the enemy was as 
yet unchecked, when a sudden assault on their right changed the as- 
pect of aflfairs. The opportunity for a flank atttack had been no- 
ticed by Gen. Stannard, and acted on with a decision and prompti- 
tude which did him infinite credit. Without hesitation, he ordered 
the 13th and 16th Regiments out upon the enemy's flank. They 
marched perhaps sixty rods parallel to the main line, and then 
changing front their line swung out nearly at right angles, on the 
right of the rebel force, which was still pushing resolutely forward, 
intent only on overcoming the resistance directly before them. The 
18th Regiment moved first, and, marching by the right flank, ap- 
proached so near the enemy's right that Gen. Stannard feared for 
the moment that his order had been misunderstood, and sent an or- 
der to " change front forward on first company" at once. This was 
immediately done. The extreme left of the battalion, as it swung 
out into the scattering fire now opened from the enemy's flank, fal- 
tered for a moment. There was danger for the instant that the 



17 

hesitation and disorder might extend down the line, and endanger 
the success of the movement ; but the few men who had begun to 
iiang back and look to the rear were promptly faced into line by a 
staff officer ; and a line of fire ran down the front of the regiment, 
as it opened at half pistol range upon the enemy. The 16th re- 
giment now came down and formed on the left, and once eufrao;ed 
in firing, all were so eager that it was with difficulty they were in- 
duced, after the enemy in front of them had surrendered, to perceive 
the fact and stop. The front of our regiments, where they opened 
fire, was hardly a dozen rods from the enemy's flank, and they ad- 
vanced while firing, so that that distance was much lessened. At 
this short range the 13th fired 10 or lo rounds, and the 16th pro- 
bably half that number, into a mass of men on which every bullet 
took effect, and many doubtless found two or three victims. The 
effect upon the rebel lines was instantaneous. Their progress ceased 
close upon the low breastworks of the 2d Corps. For a moment 
they crowded together in bewilderment, falling like wheat before 
the reaper ; then breaking into a disorderly mob, they fled in all di- 
rections. The larger portion, on their right and centre, dropped 
their arms and rushed within our lines as prisoners. On their left, 
where Pettigrew's Division had made a less resolute advance, the 
larger portion retreated whence they came. Their dead and wound- 
ed and small arms by thousands strewed the ground over which 
they charged.* 

But the w^ork on the left centre was not yet ended. The rebel 
brigade,which formed the support to Pickett's Division, on his right, 
was now advancing across the open fields. It did not follow the 
flank movement which had proved so disastrous to the main column, 
but marched straight forward, directing its course upon the position 
of the llth Regiment. The 14th received it with a hot fire in front, 
while the 16th, (which had been already faced about by Col. Veasey 

*Tlie severity of the figliting and tlie caniago, during the actual shock and crisis 
of tlie great assault, has been seldom equalled. Of Pickett's Division, whicli, 
liaving tlio riglit, took tlie full brunt of tlie Vernionters' fire, the rebel historian. Pol- 
lard, says -. '• The liavoc in its ranks was a]Ji)alling. Its losses on this dny are famous 
and should be commemorated in detail. Ever\- 15rigadier in the Divisicjn was killed 
or wounded. Out of twenty-four regimental oliieers Unix- two escaped unhurt. The 
colonels of five \'irginia regiments were killed. The '.ith \'irginia went in -.'."lO stronsi, 
and came out with only :^> men, while the eiiually gallant I'Jth rivaled the terribli; 
glorv of such <levoted <'ourage."' 

jkirhelder, in his Ke\' to the Battle of Gettysburgh, say.s : " On the Union side. 
Generals JIan((K k, Gil)bon, Webb and Stannard wore wounded ; on the enemy's side, 
Generals Armistead and (Jarnet were killed, and Generals Kemper, Pettigrew, Trim- 
ble, and Col. !Nye, commanding Archer's liri'.;ade, were wounded, all within fifteeu 
minutes time, and within a hundred and fdty yards of a conmmn centre." 



18 

and started back, in aiiticipatiou of the order) was ordered back, to 
take them on the flank. The 13th was at the same time directed to 
resume its former position. The enemy's batteries, which had 
ceased their fire, now reopened with redoubled ftiry, and shot and 
shell tore thickly through the ranks of our regiments, as these orders 
Avere obeyed. They sustained it, without being thrown into disorder, 
some of the rebel accounts to the contrary notwithstanding. The 
18th resumed its place in the line in good order, while the l()th, 
marching by the flank, hurried back at double quick across the open 
field, losing many men killed or wounded, but keeping its formation 
as perfectly as if marching on parade. Soon changing front to the 
left, the regiment formed in line of battle, facing obliquely the left 
Hank of the rebel force, now brought nearly to a halt by the front 
fire. At Col. Veazey's request, preferred in person to Gen. Stan- 
nard, he was now given })ormission to charge. The regiment fell 
upon the enemy's flank, cheering, with bayonets at a charge, and 
without firing a shot. The movement was so sudden that the rebel 
conunander could effect no change of front to meet it, and the 16th 
swept down the line of three regiments, taking their colors and 
scooping them in a body into our lines. The prisoners were, for the 
most part, passed over to the troops in our rear at once, and the ex- 
act number taken by the Averment troops is not known. Of the 
rebels engaged in the great charge 3500 were left in our hands as 
prisoners. Nearly as many more were killed or W'ounded. The re- 
mainder, in scattered s»[uads, retreated beyond the low ridge and 
were lost to our view. The colors taken by the 16th were those of 
the 8th Virginia, the battle flag of another regiment, which was 
lost by the fall of the man who took it and was brought in by other 
parties, and the colors of the 2d Florida, a beautiful silk flag bear- 
ing a rising sun with the inscriptions " Williamsburgh" and " Seven 
Pines." The 16th occupied for a while a position on the left, taken 
by them after the charge, under the final cannonade of the enemy 
which they opened on friend and foe alike, and was supported for a 
short time there by 4 companies of the 14th, under Lt. Col. Rose. 
The regiments Avere then all brought back to the original line and 
remained there till 10 o'clock in the evening, when they were with- 
drawn a short distance to the rear and allowed to bivouac for the 
night, 



unded. 


Missiny. 


89 


•zQ 


G8 


22 


89 


15 



19 

The loss of the brigade was : 
Ki/led. 
Of the loth llegiment, 8 

" " 14th " 17 

" " IGth " 14 

Totals: 39 killed, 24(3 wounded, 03 missing — aggregate, 348. 

During the last sharp shower of grape and shell, with which 
the enemy strove to cover his repulse, Gen. Staunard was wounded 
in the leg by an iron shrapnel ball, which passed down for three in- 
ches into the muscles on the inside of the thigh. His wound was 
very painful till a surgeon came (which was not for an hour) and 
removed the ball ; but, though strongly urged, he refused to leave 
the field. He remained in front with his men till his command was 
relieved from duty in the front line, till his wounded had been re- 
moved, and arrangements made for burying the dead, wdien, having 
done all that could have been asked even of a man whole in flesh, 
the high spirit and stern purpose which had thus far sustained his 
body against pain and loss of blood, relaxed, and he sank fainting 
to the ground. To his perfect coolness, close and constant presence 
with his men, and to the promptness — almost inspiration — with 
which he seized the great opportunity of the battle, were very great- 
ly owing the glorious success of the day. 

Major General Hancock rode down to speak to Gen- 
eral Stannard, and fell, while addressing him, close to the 
front line, just after the flank attack had been ordered. He 
was caught, as he sank from his horse, by General Stannard's 
aids, Lieutenants Hooker and Benedict, and the bleeding from his 
wound — a singular and very severe one from the joint entrance, at 
the upper part of the thigh, of a minie ball and a twisted iron 
nail — was stopped l)y the hands of Gen. Stannai'd and n)eiiibers of 
his staff. 

Gen, Crawford drove in tlu' enemy's right at dusk, and took 
some prisoners ; but the battle, in fact, ended with the repulse of 
Pickett's great charge. Two or three of the enemy's batteries re- 
tained their places opposite our position till dark ; but it is now 
known that in their rear a scene of complete panic jirevailed. Hen- 
ry Congdon, of Clarendon, Vt., a shnr[)shooter, then a prisoner be- 
hind the enemy's lines, states that the rebel forces of Gen. Lee's 



20 

right started at once in full retreat, and could not be rallied till 
they found they were not followed. This is confirmed by the Eng- 
lish eye-witness, on the rebel side, who wrote the account of the 
battle published in Blackwood's Magazine, in September, 1863, who 
says : " It is difficult to exaggerate the critical state of affairs as 
they appeared about this time (subsequent to the repulse.) If the 
enemy or their general had shown any enterprise, there is no saying 
what might have happened." 

I go back, again to note the share in the battle taken by the 
other Vermont troops. The 1st Vermont Brigade, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th 
and 6th Vermont Regiments, under command of Col. L. A. Grant, 
rested at Manchester, Md., duri,ng the day and until midnight of 
July 1st, when it marched with the rest of the 6th Corps for the 
field. It reached there at 4 P. M. of Thursday, July 2d, by a 
forced march of thirty-two miles, the last ten of which were made 
at a very rapid rate, to the sound of the guns that thundered from 
the hills of Gettysburgh. The battle was raging fiercely on the 
left as the corps came upon the ground, and waiting only to close its 
ranks it was at once formed in line of l:)attle as a support to the 
5th Corps, then warmly engaged in its inunediate front. The lines 
in front stood firm, and the brigade did not become engaged. Soon 
after dark the brigade was marched to the left, and took position 
near the foot of Round Top Hill. Next morning it was moved 
still further down, and formed the extreme left of our army, — its 
line of battle extending nearly at right angles with the main line. 
This responsible position the 1st Brigade held till the close of the 
battle. Shot and shell, at times, on the 3d, fell along its line ; but 
the enemy did not reach its immediate front. Probably it would 
have been fiercely assailed on Friday afternoon had it not been for 
an important diversion, effected by the cavalry, in wdiich the 1st 
Vermont Cavalry took a prominent part, as will be described here- 
after. On the morning of Friday, July 3d, the 4th Vermont, Col. 
Stoughton, Avas deployed in front as skirmishers, and throuo-h their 
line some of the cavalry retreated after their repulse in the charo-e. 
On the moining of the 4th, the rebels still maintaining their threat- 
ening position in front of our left, the 4th Vermont was ordered 
forward and drove in their skirmishers for a mile or more. On 
Sunday, the 5th, tlic brignde joined tlu^ (ith Corps, in its junsiiit of 



21 

the retreatiug enemy, until he effected his escape through the 
mountains. 

That Hood's Division, on Longstreet's extreme -left, did not 
participate in the great rebel assault of Friday afternoon, is be- 
lieved to be due to the presence and daring of our cavalry. At 
four or five o'clock in the afternoon Gen. Farnsworth, commanding 
a brigade of Gen. Kilpatrick's Division, which covered General 
Meade's left, was ordered to attack the enemy strongly posted be- 
hind some stone walls. With the 1st A^irginia and 2d Euttalion of 
the 1st Vermont Cavalry he charged. Leaping a wall, under a se- 
vere tire, he dispersed the front line of the enemy, followed them 
through a field swept by hostile batteries, and succeeded in piercing 
through a second line,, in the rear of which his force became dis- 
persed. Lieut. Col. Preston moved gallantly to his support with 
two squadrons of the 1st Vermont Cavalry, encountered a rebel 
regiment sent in to intercept the retreat of the first colunni, and, 
after a severe struggle, drove it from its position. The attack 
could not be maintained, however, and the cavalry withdrew, leav- 
ing jjehind them the brave Farnsworth and seventy-five of the 
Vermont Cavalry killed and wounded ; but having accomplished 
the important diversion intended, and having made one of the most 
gallant charges by cavalry on infantry in line, on record in the 
war. 

I have thus shown that at three important points iji the field, 
and at two great crises of the battle, the itrcsence and gcod behav- 
ior of Vermont troops had an important liearing on the final result. 
But something more than this may be justly claimed for them, viz : 
that the flank attack oj the 2d Vt. Brigade decided tlie fate of the 
(jreat rebel charge of Friday afternoon, and with it the issue of the 
battle. Disinterested testimony to this fact is given by the Englisli 
and rebel correspondents, Avho certainly had no partialities to grati- 
fy on our side, and l)y the rebel officers taken prisoners. An ac- 
coimt of the charge and its repulse, given in the Richmond Senti- 
nel of July lo, 1863, contains the following passage : 

" The order was given at 3 o'clock, P. M., and the advance was 
commenced, the infantry marching at common time across the field, 
and not firing a musket until within 75 yards of the enemy's works. 
As Kemper's Brigade moved up it sivung around to the left and 
was exposed, to the front and flanking fire of the Federals, which 
xras rerij ftitnl . This swinging aroiuul unmasked a part of the 



22 

enemy's force, jive regiments being pushed out from their left to 
the attack* Directly this force was unmasked, our artillery opened 
on it with terrible precision. * * * * 

" Seven Confederate flags were planted on the stone fence, but 
there not being enough men to support them, they were captured by 
the advancing Tankee force, and nearly all of our severely wounded 
were left in the hands of the enemy. 

" The 1st Virginia carried in 175 men, about 25 having been 
detained for ambulance and other duty. They brought out between 
30 and 40, many even of them being wounded. Tlfere is but one 
officer of the regiment who was not killed or wounded, and that was 
Lieut. Ballou, who now commands it." 

Another account, in the same paper, derived from the survi- 
ving officer of the 1st Virginia, says : 

" When the firing of cannon ceased, the order for the infantry 
to advance was given, which was done at conunon time — no double- 
(|uicking or cheering, but solemnly and steadily those veterans di- 
rected their steps towards the heavy and compact columns of the 
enemy. The skirmishers were at once engaged, the enemy having 
a double line of skirmishers to oppose our single line. The enemy 
were driven from their position Ijehind a stone fence, over which en- 
trenchments had been thrown up, and our forces occupied their po- 
sition about twenty minutes. About this time a flanking party of 
the enemy, marching in column by regiments, was thrown out from 
the enemfs left on our extreme right, which was held by Kemper's 
Brigade, and by an enfilading fire forced the retirement of our 
troops. ****** 

" With their repulse the heavy fighting of the day terminated. 
Our loss here was heavy, and our forces, after the most desperate 
fighting, were forced to tall back beyond the range of fire. 

The correspondent of the Richmond Enquirer, in a vivid ac- 
count of the charge, after stating that Pettigrew's Division, on 
the left, first broke, adds : 

" Pickett is left alone to contend with the hordes of the ene- 
my pouring in on him on every side. Garnett falls, killed by a 
niinie ball, and Kemper, the brave and chivalrous, reels under a 
mortal wound, and is taken to the rear. Noio the enemy move 
around strong flanking bodies of infantry, and are rapidly gaining 
Pickett's rear. The enemy press heavily our retreating line, and 
many noble spirits, who had passed safely through the advance and 
charge, now fall on right and left. Armistead is wounded and left 

*This overestimate of the numhor of tlio reisiments making the flank attack was 
a very natural one. The ranks of tlio Vermont rosiments were quite full, containinu- 
at least doulili- the average uimiher of hayonets hi tin? regiments of the Army of the 
Potomac. 



23 

ill the iiieiii} 's IkiihIs. Tlie sliattci-inl ri'iuiKUit of NVriglit's (Jcorgiii 
Briiiade is moved forward to cover their retreat, and the fiirht eloses 
here,'' 

Simihir extracts might be multiplied ; liut those given arc suffi- 
'^''ent to show that on the rebel side at least — and corroborative evi- 
dence is not wanting on our own* — tlie failure of the great rebel as- 
sault of Friday, and the consec|uent loss of the battle, was attri- 
buted to a flank attack on Pickett's right by several Federal regi- 
ments. It is enough to add that no troops made, or claim to have 
made, such an attack, Init those of Gen. Stannard's Vermont Brig- 
ade. 

The proper limits of this paper, and its main purpose, whicli 
is simply to set down in plain, unvarnished record, the share taken 
by the Vermonters in the great battle, with such grouping of the 
other events as may show its true relation to the victorious issue, 
have forbidden mo to attempt detailed allusion to acts of individual 
heroism ; or description of the scenes of the actual conflict, or of 
the sights witnessed l^y me on Thursday night, during the whole of 
which — a bright, moonlight night — I rode, on a special duty, over 
the whole region within and to the rear of the lines of the Army 
of the Potomac, and through fields covered by the acre with wound- 
ed men, collected around the barns used for hospitals ; or of the 
sickening horrors after the battle, of a field on w^hich lay over seven 
thousand dead men and three thousand dead horses. 

A brief sumnuxry of the casualties is all that need be added. 
The magnitude and severity of the battle is strongly shown by the 
losses of general officers, much exceeding those in any other battle 
of the war. Of Gen. Meade's Army, Maj. General Reynolds and 
Brigadier Generals Weed, Zook and Farnsworth, and Colonels Vin- 

*An order, issued from Division Ileiidquartors, July 4tli, returned tlio tli;inl<s of 
the Major General commanding, to tlio Vermont Second Brigade, " for their gal hint 
conduct in resisting in the front line, the main attack of tlio enemy upun this ])osi- 
tion, alter sustaining a terrific lire from one hundred pieces of artillery," and con- 
gratulated them " upon contrihuting so essentially to the glorious victor^' of yester- 
day." 

In Major (Jeneral Douhleday's testimony Iieforc the Congressional Committee on 
the Conduct of the War, ho says, after descrihing the Hank attack : " The prisoners 
stated tliat what mined them was Stannard's Brigade on their flank, as they found it 
impossililo to ccmteud witli it in that position ; aiid tliey drew off, all in a ihuddlc, to 
get away trdui it." 

Baciielder says -. "Stannard, whose brigade was at the front, moved it bj- the riglit 
flank, changed front forward on first comiiany, and witli his Green Jfouiitain Bovs 
opened a murderous fire upon their (the eueni\'s) exijosed flank. The effect was 
resistless. The ground lay thickly covered with killed and wounded-, hundreds, 
thousands, threw down tlieir arms ; while the broken, shattered mass souglit refu"'o 
behind the hills from wliich they had emerged." " 

Swinton gives substantially the same account. 



k 



24 

cent and Willard, coianuiudiug brigades, were killed; Major Gen- 
erals Haucoek, Sickles, and Brigadier Generals Barlow, Barnes, 
Gibbon, Graham, Paul, Stannard and Webb were wounded — fifteen 
in all. On the rebel side. Generals Armistead, Barksdalc, Gai'- 
nett, Pender and Semmes were killed, while Kemper, shot throug 
the spine, lived but the wreck of a man, and Pettigrew, wounded 
survived the great charge, to be slain in the sequel to the Ijattle at 
Falling Waters ; and Generals Anderson, Hampton, Hetli, Hood, 
Johnson, Jenkins, Jones, Kemper, Kimball, Bol^ertson, Scales and 
Triml:)le were wounded — eighteen in all. 

The greatest rebel loss of general officers, in any previous bat- 
tle, was three killed and eight wounded, at Antietam. 

Gen. Meade's casualties, including the skirmishes tbllowing the 
battle, (in one of which, at Funkstown, the 1st A'ermont Brigade 
repulsed with a skirmish line a full line of battle attack, and lost 
nine killed and fifty-nine wounded,) were, as officially stated, 2,834 
killed ; 13,709 wounded ; and 6,643 missing. 

Gen. Lee made no official report of his losses ; but it is known 
that over 5,000 rebel dead were buried on or near the field ; that 
7,600 severely wounded rebels, left in our hands, were registered in 
the Gettysburgh hospitals ; that the total of rebel prisoners taken 
was 13,621 ; and that 2,100 wagons loaded wdth his wounded, taken 
with him on his retreat, were coimted as they passed ' through 
Greencastle, Pa. The aggregate of killed and Avounded on both 
sides probably fell little short of 8,000 killed and 35,000 wounded, 
rivaling the carnage ot Waterloo, and exceeding by 10,000 the to- 
tal of casualties at Solferino, the bloodiest foreign battle of this 
generation. 

Gen. Lee's campaign into Pennsylvania cost him one-third of 
his army. His success at Gettysburgh would doubtless have been 
the signal for organized outbreaks of the Northern allies of the 
Confederacy in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York ; it would 
have assured the fall of the National capital, and the recognition of 
foreign powers for the Confederacy. His failure was tlie failure of 
the rebellion. 

G. G. BENEDICT. 



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